White vows to keep feet on ground in Highlands
JORDAN White delighted his new manager John Hughes on Sunday night when he netted a second-half winner against Celtic that lifted Ross County off bottom spot in the Premiership table. But the Bellshill-born striker, who joined the Dingwall club from Motherwell last month, knew that his Rangersdaft relations watching on television at home would be even more overjoyed.
The unexpected 1-0 triumph his header secured edged the Ibrox club, who are 18 points clear of them at the top of the league, that bit closer to their first Scottish title since 2011.
Steven Gerrard’s men can now clinch the top flight trophy if they draw the third Old Firm game of the 2020/21 campaign at Parkhead on March 21 – if not before. “I’ve got a lot of happy people in my family,” said White. “I grew up that way and it is what it is.”
However, the 29-year-old, who started his career at Rangers as a youth player, is personally far more concerned with the implications of the result for County; the victory at the weekend saw the Highlanders move above both Hamilton and Kilmarnock in the Premiership with nine games remaining.
However, White, who has now netted twice in three games for Hughes’s side, knows there is still a lot of football to be played before anything is decided and is keen to maintain his form up front.
“I’m here at Ross County and I’ve got a job to do here,” he said. “That’s my main focus. I’ll try and keep my feet on the ground and concentrate on us. At the end of the day we are not out of the water yet and that’s my main aim. Hopefully we can back it up again on Saturday [against St Mirren in Paisley].
“It was a massive three points, which gets us off the bottom of the table.”
JACK SIMPSON is confident he can hit the heights expected of him at Rangers after making his debut in the win over Dundee United on Sunday.
The defender clinched a deadline-day switch to Ibrox as manager Steven Gerrard moved to bring him on board from Bournemouth ahead of schedule after initially agreeing a Bosman deal.
Simpson replaced Filip Helander for the final 23 minutes of the Premiership clash as Rangers ran out 4-1 winners over Micky Mellon’s side to move within touching distance of the Premiership title.
Gerrard admitted afterwards that Simpson may have to be patient in his pursuit of further game time this term and the 24-year-old is determined to get up to speed as quickly as possible with the champions-elect.
Simpson said: “I am delighted to have made my debut and the most important thing is three points. But, especially from the back four and goalkeeper’s point of view, we are disappointed to concede a sloppy goal towards the end there as clean sheets mean a lot to us with the standards we set here. So I am pleased, but also a little disappointed.
“Around the training ground and the gym, the standards are set very high and everyone is expected to do everything they can to be ready for match-day.
“So I have been very impressed so far. I feel like the more I learn how the team plays and the more game time I get, the more comfortable I feel and I think I had can add something.
“I feel comfortable on the ball and I want to bring the ball out and be aggressive defensively on and off the ball.”